Navigational sounding apparatus.



Patented lune |7,'|902. I

No. 702,507. v

v 2. L. TANNER.

NAVIGATIONAL SOUNDING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Nov. 1, 1901.1

2 Sheets$hegt I.

' (No Model.)

' mull Ill.

No. 702,507. Patented lune l7, I902. I

' Z. L. TANNER.

NAVIGATIONAL SUUNDING APPARATUS.

' (Application filed Nov. 1. 1901.1 (No Model.)

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UNITED 1ST Ar a P T T OFFioE.

ZERA L. TANN ER, OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY.

NAVIGATIO NAL SOUNDING APPARATUS.

srnoxrrcArron ffermm pa'rt of Letters Patent No. 702,507, dated June17,1902.

I l I Application iiled liovember 1, 1901- Serial No. 80,754. (No model)useful Improvements in Navigational Sound..

ing Apparatus, of'which the following is a specification, referencebeing bad therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to machines for navigational sounding.

The object'of the invention is to produce a sounding.

none of the parts-which are needful to the covering or operation of themachine shall be removable fronrthe machine proper, although they may bedisplaced temporarily. For instance, if a handleor a" cover weredetached and laid down-on a ships deck or in the bot-- tom of a-boatsuch part would'be likely to be.

wire or cable a used for sounding. j is usually a strand of perhapsone-tenth of an thrown aboutbythe motion of the ship or boat andperhaps: be lost overboard. I have? therefore devised a machine in whichall the; parts are connected, but in such manner-that thevariousoperating devices may be-thrown into functional relation'asneedful. The present improvement is mainly'in the frame and connections.

Figurell isa side elevation of the machine in a closed casing with crankin operating position. ,Fig. 2 is an end view showing register andcranksinoperative position. Fig. 3 is a reverse endview showing cranksdisconnected. Fig; A: is a longitudinal section of thecasing-andelevation of the machine, showing guiding-sheave detached.Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of the casing, showing drum and gearingin'planr .Fig. 6 is an enlarged verticalsection'of the drum, showingpart of one of the cranks and showing, partly in elevation and partly insection, the brake mechanism. Fig. 7 is a brokensection of parts needfulto show the brake. Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the device slightlymodified for boat use.

The numerals 1 1 indicate metallic framepieces, each of which has twolegs 2 2, &c., which legsare held by suitable clamp-bars 3 3 to the base4 in the supporting-box. The

frame-pieces are in form of spiders with a central-bearing for thedrum-shaft. The spiders or frame-pieces are connected by the tie-bolts5, which support the frame againstsuitable shoulders, as. is common i-nmachine-frames.

Around the tie-bolts are sleeves 6, the ends of said sleeves beingbeveled. The tie-bolts and their-sleeves areclose to the flanges of thewindingdrum, the sleeves extending slightly; within ,the periphery of'theflanges, :thus serving as guardsto prevent the'escape of thewirefrom between therfianges 71 of the drum 11; l,.vt he,,. spaces betweentheei dsof the sleeves and the'fla'nges of the drum being less ft'han'the diameter of the wire. 1

The fl31l116b3l'3'i1 1 form bearings-for the shaft 10, to which thewinding-drum is rigidly 'fattached. .The sh'aft 10 extends outsidetheframe, and when the frame is inclosed'in a box for ship usethe shaftalsoextends through both sides of the box.

The drum 11 is capable of containing the Such wire inch in diameter. Asthe wire a is wound coil on coil--say three hundred 'fathoms in alltherewill ,be adifferenc'e in the length of the outer coils from that of theinner coils. This difference is readily calculated, and acorrection-table is generally attached tothe casing,-

novelty in the register which registers the ro-' tations of the shaft,and therefore the coils of line paid out from the drum I need give nospecial description of the register, and I do not claim the mechanism bywhich the register is driven. Ordinarily the register will be operatedto show, approximately, the length of the wire paid out and will bereturned to zero by the winding of the line; but mechanism may beprovided for returning the register to zero or for changing theindicator should part of the wire be lost, as is common.

In paying out the wire said wire usually runs over a sheave, as b, whichoverhangs the ships rail or the stern of a boat. In sounding from a boatit is generally advisable to have the register connected to sheave b,when the reading may be accurate. For ships use, however, I have foundit better to have the register connected to the windingdrum, even thoughthe reading be less accurate.

In permitting the wire to run out, with the sounding-lead or othersounding device attached, it is generally preferable to let the drum runfree from the control of the cranks by which the wire is drawn in,although the movement may be steadied by one of the cranks; but toprevent too rapid movement a brake is provided, as will be explained.

Thebars 17 of the frame project upward above the rim of the drum 11 andare sufficiently elastic for the purpose to be described. A right-handedscrew 20 is secured to one of these bars 17, and a left-handed screw 21is secured to the other bar. These screws extend toward each other, andthe threads of each'screw enter a right-and-left-threaded sleeve 22. Ahandle or hand-lever 23 is connected to sleeve 22, and by rocking thishandlever the threaded sleeve will draw the screws out or in, and thusspring the bars 17 toward or away from the sides of the drum.

Brake-shoes 24 24 are secured to arms 17 in position to bear on theouter face of the drum 11. By the hand-lever 23 the drum may be heldunder control, even to the extent of stopping the movement of the wire.As the hand-lever is in a most convenient position both for observationand operation, I consider the location above the drum to be important.The sleeve 22 lies close to and partly within the flanges 71 of drum 11and serves as a guard to prevent the escape of the wire in the samemanner as sleeves 6.

While it is sometimes desirable to control the movement of the drum bythe cranks, the drum is generally allowed to run free in paying out theline. The rapid rotation of a crank-handle attached to shaft 10 at suchtimes would be inconvenient if not dangerous, while a detachable crankwould be very objectionable, as the crank is liable to be lost. I attacha loose sleeve to each end of shaft 10. This sleeve 30 permits the shaftto rotate therein, but is held from removal from the shaft by pin 31entering a groove in shaft 10. The crank-bar 32 is hinged to sleeve 30.The crank-bar has a mortise 33, which can turn over a squared orflattened end 35 on the shaft 10. A spring-catch 36 on the crankbarengages a notch in bar 10 to prevent the crank-bar from swinging awayfrom the shaft accidentally. The cranks are alike and can be engagedwith the shaft, as in Fig. 2, so that a man at each side of the drum cansecure a good operating position, or both cranks can be thrown out ofclutch with the shaft 10.

The box 40, which contains the drum and frame, preferably stands on legs41, which teaser are bolted to the deck. veniently flanged extensions ofthe box ends. The box sides are notched at 43 to receive the handles 37when the crank-handles are uncoupled from the shaft and swung down. Thehandles 37 enter these notches with a binding or wedging action, and thecrankbars are thus kept from swinging loose, however much the ship maypitch or roll. The box-cover 46 is held bya hinge 4;! to one end of thebox and is fastened at the opposite end by any suitable and usual catch49. The hinge 47 is connected to the body of the box by a swivel-thatis, a bolt 50 passes through that leaf of the hinge which wouldordinarily be secured to the body of the box. This bolt 50 is firmlyattached to the box, so that the hinge swivels around it. The box-covercan thus be swung up on its hinge and the hinge swung on its pivot, soas to lie alongside the end of the box, as shown in Fig. a. A catch orbutton near the bottom of the box end there holds the cover, so that itcannot swing from the box no matter what the motion of the ship may be.

For boat use the device is slightly modified so that the legs 2 may besecured to the top of box 00 either to the outside or inside of the box.The handles 37 when turned down rest against legs 2 and are held byspringclasps 73.

From the foregoing it will appear that the present improvement relateslargely to the adj unctive mechanism by which the windingdrum issupported, protected, controlled, and operated. It may be remarked thatwhile the drum may be of steel or iron the working parts of the reelshould preferably be of bronze or some metal not subject to muchcorrosion by the action of sea-water.

A navigational sounding apparatus must be distinguished from a ships login which the winding-reel is held in the hand and in which the motion ofthe ship or boat is compensated for by the operator, who can steady thereel by movement of his arm or person. The navigational soundingapparatus is attached to the ship or boat and partakes of the uncertainmovement thereof. It is also to be distinguished from deep-sea soundingapparatus which is only used when a ship or boat is at rest orcomparatively so. The navigational sounding apparatus above described istoo heavy and powerful to be supported by hand, yet is intended to beused while a ship or boat is moving at usual speed and even in severeweather. The wire fed out under such circumstances seldom exceeds threehundred fathoms; yet the strain of drawing in a wire of this length andits attached lead generally requires the strength of at least two men.When the weather is at all rough, the difficulty of using a machine ofthis character is very great. My improvements are intended to overcomedifficulties heretofore existing in this class of machines These legsare con IIO and are not intended to apply to hoistingmachines, brakes,cranks, or other mechanism for general purposes.

What I claim is 1. In a navigational sounding apparatus, the combinationwith a winding-drum, of the frame supporting said drum, brake-shoes onthe frame, and a hand-lever operating on the frame to compress thebrake-shoes on the drum.

2. In a navigational sounding apparatus, the line-supporting drum, anelastic metallic frame supporting said drum, brake-shoes on the frame atthe sides of the drum, right and left screws connected to the frame, anda sleeve with right and left screw-thread embracing said screws, wherebythe rotation of the sleeve springs the frame and applies the brake-shoesto the drum.

3. The combination with the winding-drum of a machine as described, ofthe metallic frame having spring-bars projecting above said drum, thebrake connected to said bars so as to bear on the drum, and thebrake-0perating lever directly above the drum, so that the drum andbrake are under immediate observation, substantially as described.

4. In a navigational sounding apparatus, the combinationwith the drumhaving flanges as described, the wire on. such drum, the

frame supporting the drum, tie-bolts extending from side to side of theframe, and sleeves on the tie-bolts extending within the periphery ofthe drum-flanges and acting as guards to the soundingwire, substantiallyas described.

5. The combination, in a machine for navigational sounding, of thesupporting-frame, a drum-shaft and drum carried thereby, a sleeve on theshaft and free to rotate but held against longitudinal movement, a crankhinged to said sleeve, and means for engaging the crank-bar, near thehinge, with the drum-shaft, so that the crank may be operative, orturned out of the way and the drum left to run free.

6. The combination, in a navigational sounding-machine, of a metallicframe, a

drum and drum-shaft supportedonthe frame, a crank held by hingedconnection to the shaft, means for engaging the crank with-the shaft orfor permitting the shaft to run free, and a brake connected to the framein position to operate on the drum as an auxiliary to the crank.

7. In a navigational soundingmachine,the combination with the frame,drum, and drumshaft, of cranks havinghinged connection to the shaft ateach end, and means for engaging the cranks with the shaft or forturning them out of working engagement, and means for holding the cranksagainst swinging when so turned out of working-engagementwith the shaft,substantially as described.

8. In a navigational soundingapparatus,

the combination of the frame, the drum-shaft and drum, said-drum-shafthaving polygonal ends, sleeves nearthe ends'of the shaft free to turnbut secured against longitudinal movement, a crank-bar hinged toeachsleeve and having a polygonal mortise to turn over the shaft end .asdescribed, a handle on. each crank, and friction apparatus on the casingto hold the cranks when swung away from operative engagement with theshaft.

9. In a navigational sounding-machine provided with means-for attachmentto a ships deck, the combination with the frame and drum, of a boxinclosing'the frame, the shaft extending through the box, the crankshinged to the shaft outside the box and connected'by hinged connectionto the shaft, said box having notches into which the crank-handles mayswing to hold the cranks when not in operative engagement with theshaft.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ZERA L. TANNER.

Witnesses:

W. A. BARTLETT, T. BLAIR SHOEMAKER.

